A study of 20th-century Germany's authoritarian right-wing political theorist, Carl Schmitt. It focuses on the central place of his attack on the liberal rule of law, and pays substantial attention to his influence on some important voices in political thought in the USA after 1945.

This is the first full-length study in English of twentieth-century Germany's most influential authoritarian right-wing political theorist, Carl Schmitt, that focuses on the central place of his attack on the liberal rule of law. This is also the first book in any language to devote substantial attention to Schmitt's subterranean influence on some of the most important voices in political thought (Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich A. Hayek, and Hans Morgenthau) in the United States after 1945. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Introduction - why Carl Schmitt? Part 1 The jurisprudence of lawlessness
the crisis of legal indeterminacy
the decay of parliamentarism
the critique of liberal constitutionalism
the total state
after legal indeterminacy?
indeterminacy and international law
epilogue - Carl Schmitt in the aftermath of the German catastrophe. Part 2 Carl Schmitt in America: Carl Schmitt and the origins of Joseph Schumpeter's theory of democratic elitism
the unholy alliance of Carl Schmitt and Friedrich A. Hayek
another hidden dialogue - Carl Schmitt and Hans Morgenthau
conclusion - after Carl Schmitt?